


Catching Up

by Raaj



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Comfort, Fluff, Gen, I love morgana but also come on morgana, Persona 5 Spoilers, a boy and his cat, have you ever been hugged by a cat? it is amazing, morgana is kind of a jerk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-06 05:02:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15879087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raaj/pseuds/Raaj
Summary: Really, Morgana should have come back sooner so the others could know he was okay, but the feline was prideful and he had had a very dramatic sendoff for someone who ended up not leaving at all.  So Morgana had been too embarrassed to come straight back.  That made sense.That Morgana had been too embarrassed from December 24th to February 12th made less sense.Or: Morgana and Ren have a short chat after they come back.





	Catching Up

By the calendar, Ren had only been in solitary confinement for about a month and a half after the time it had taken to process him, but a calendar couldn't show how time distorted and lost its meaning when there was so little stimuli and no one, absolutely no one to talk to. He'd thought nothing could make him happier than being released and being able to see his friends and Sojiro again.

But then Morgana had come back to them, and that made their team complete again. That didn't mean things were back to normal yet. He wasn't back to normal; he'd found himself overwhelmed trying to keep up with everyone's energy and quick conversations and changes in mood, after solitary it was like going from 0 to 100, and he'd tried to play it cool but Futaba had noticed him starting to flounder from all the social interaction. He still felt a little stupid because he knew that yes, their conversations were usually this loud, and had always been prone to outbursts, whether people were getting excited or starting to bicker, but it was just so much _more_  today. For once, Futaba and he had a reversal in roles, her yanking him up to the attic and making him pick out a game he could zone out and relax with while she texted everyone to let them know they'd be back down in a bit. They'd ended up playing _Golfer Sarutahiko_ because it wasn't a fighting game and it didn't have the random number generator bullshit that _Gambla Goemon_ and _Train of Life_ did. They'd played a couple holes, Morgana coming up to watch them quietly from the bed, and then he'd felt calm enough to go back down. He'd stopped jiggling his leg, anyway. Thankfully, the others didn't make a fuss over his temporary absence. So maybe things weren't normal now, but they would be, and everything was good. He'd gotten free on the same day Morgana came back.

He walked through Yongen-Jaya in the evening after the others had left, enjoying the simple fact that he could walk around and still thinking about how lucky it was Morgana came back on the same day as him. Except something seemed wrong about that thought. Really, Morgana should have come back sooner so the others could know he was okay, but the feline was prideful and he _had_  had a very dramatic sendoff for someone who ended up not leaving at all. So Morgana had been too embarrassed to come straight back. That made sense.

That Morgana had been too embarrassed from December 24th to February 12th made less sense. Ren's path through the residential district became more distracted and wandering as he lost himself in thought. It...hurt a little. He'd comforted himself in solitary with the thought that at least he'd kept his teammates safe, but that had nearly always been followed by grief that Morgana had disappeared for good, or so it had seemed on Christmas Eve. If the feline had come back sooner, Makoto could have relayed it to him through Sae. He could have _seen_  Morgana before turning himself in, if the cat had been quick enough in getting back to Yongen-Jaya. Maybe that wasn't fair to think, but now that the thought was there, it wasn't leaving. Ren only broke out of his reverie when he started shivering. He hadn't dressed warmly enough to be wandering long at night in mid-February. He patted his pockets for his phone to check the time and sighed when he realized he'd left it at Leblanc. At least he'd brought the keys, so Sojiro wouldn't have needed to wait up for him.

His face flushed when he entered the cafe to immediately see that Sojiro was standing behind the counter, waiting for him, the forgotten phone directly in front of the frowning man. But the boss waved off a flustered apology and simply reminded him that he needed to remember to start carrying it again so people could reach him, or they'd get worried. He already had some missed texts on top of the voicemails from Sojiro before the older man had realized his phone was still in the cafe. Once Sojiro was headed home, Ren started tapping away, composing responses with only a brief break to change into his pajamas before he got into bed.

It took a few minutes for Morgana to finally make his presence known, bounding up the stairs. It took another minute for Ren to realize the feline wasn't telling him to put away his phone and sleep. He hadn't even joined Ren in bed; he remained on the floor, cleaning his forearms and face and sneaking glances at the teenager.

Ren pursed his lips, dropping his phone to the bed. Something was definitely up, and if things were going to be awkward anyway, maybe he should simply ask and get it off his chest. "Morgana. Why didn't you return earlier? We all would have wanted to know."

He half-expected Morgana to say what he'd said before, about having made such a big show when he thought he was leaving that he couldn't just come waltzing back until fifty days later. But the cat stilled, looking very solemn as he sat and flicked his tail to wrap neatly around his forelegs. "...I didn't think I should come back until I could apologize to you. I'm sorry."

"For what?" Ren wouldn't have thought his friend had anything to apologize for, but the way Morgana's gaze lowered to the floor said otherwise.

"It didn't really sink in until after I reappeared in this world, but I was supposed to be your guide," Morgana said. His ears flattened back on his head as he closed his eyes, bracing himself. "And I was a _terrible_  guide!"

"You taught me nearly everything I know about the metaverse."

"Yeah, and a lot of it was missing pieces," the cat scoffed. "I didn't realize stealing hearts would give that stupid treasure more prisoners. If Futaba hadn't entered her own Palace, we might have hurt her."

Ren grimaced. He'd had more than enough time for reflection to realize that if Futaba and Sae Niijima's Palaces had gone the same way most Palaces had, they likely would have ended up behind the panopticon's bars too. They'd never planned to steal Sae's treasure because of Akechi's involvement, but Futaba was a different story. The best theory they had about her treasure was that the sarcophagus had held a cognition of her until the real deal came walking in. If they'd taken it from the Palace, thinking they were helping her, would her shadow still have managed to reach her, somehow? Or would it have wandered in Mementos until it entered the prison of regression--and what would that have done to the real Futaba? "The important thing is we didn't hurt her. And your information had holes in it because you had amnesia, Morgana. You can't blame yourself for that." He'd wanted to recover his memories so badly.

Morgana looked skeptical as he glanced aside. "I think I have most of my memory, now, but I still don't remember if Yaldabaoth even did anything to me. It just feels like I could have done more. And, if I had... things might have turned out better for you."

Oh. Ren had turned himself in to make sure Shido would be prosecuted without anyone else getting in trouble, and in turn, Morgana had decided to punish himself for something that wasn't his fault. Because he didn't think he could come home until he was able to apologize.

That was upsetting. Especially because-- "Morgana," Ren said. He took a breath, trying to make sure the question would come out calm. "How did you know that things weren't okay for me, when you weren't here? How did you know they'd found the witness for me?" He already had a very strong suspicion, and he hated it. "How long have you been in Yongen-Jaya, and you didn't come home?"

The tip of Morgana's tail was twitching back and forth, even as he kept the length of it still wrapped around himself in an effort to not give away his agitation. The feline was silent for a long moment. "It really did seem awkward to come back right away," he offered finally. "And I had a lot to think about, after getting so many memories back. So I didn't come back until... until the day after Christmas. ...I was outside Leblanc when I heard Boss talking about you to someone. He was really upset, and I just knew I couldn't come back yet. But I stayed around to see if I could help."

"But not where anyone could see you," Ren felt compelled to point out. This time, he was in agreement with Ryuji. Morgana had been stupid. Distressingly stupid. But he looked so very, very small where he sat that Ren couldn't help remembering how young he was, only a year or so. He was usually much more intelligent than any one-year-old, be they human or cat, but apparently 'dealing with feelings in a mature way' was the weak point. Ren didn't want to be angry with Morgana, and he didn't want to make his friend more upset, but he didn't feel anywhere near prepared to keep talking about this.

"Umm. I'm going to sleep on the couch tonight," Morgana started. "I got really used to having my own space to sleep when I was a stray! And you probably want your own space too, so--"

"Morgana." Ren patted the space on the bed in front of him. "Get up here."

The cat had been padding over to the sofa, presumably to show off his new stray independence and also avoid any uncomfortable awkwardness, but he only hesitated a second before bounding to the bed to take up Ren's invitation. And when his friend was right in front of him, Ren pulled him into a hug against his chest, to show that they were okay without still talking about it, because if he thought about it too much he _was_  going to get upset again. Morgana had done his best as a guide, and if he'd forgotten some details or gotten wrapped up in his missing memories at times, it was fine. _Not_  fine was Morgana hiding away for a month and a half.

The hug lasted for maybe three seconds. Morgana squirmed and writhed under Ren's arm, and Ren quickly lifted it to let his friend go. He was expecting Morgana to bound off the bed and run away or something--after all, the feline wasn't all that great with feelings.

He wasn't expecting Morgana to reach up with his arms, wrapping them around Ren's neck and holding on with his round little fingerpads. When Morgana pressed his cheek against Ren's in a nuzzle, it registered: Morgana was returning the hug.

And _purring_.

...Oh. The forceful way Morgana kept nuzzling his cheek was surprising, but not in a bad way; it came off as both apology and comfort, and if Ren was being completely honest with himself, he could use the comfort after the last month and a half. He lifted his hand to pet Morgana in return, and they stayed that way for about a minute, Morgana's nuzzling slowing down more and more until he stopped and pulled himself away. He was still purring, but it was quieter now, calmer. "I'm really glad you're back, Ren."

"I'm glad you're back too."

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly this was 99% written for the cathug. My sister found a stray cat once that was incredibly affectionate and gave me a hug almost as soon as I started petting it, and that was wild because I've lived with 6 different pet cats and none of them did that.
> 
> But also, like. Morgana. Come on.
> 
> Comments are appreciated!


End file.
